A1.Who is the prolific American crime
novelist whose main character is forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta?

Patricia
CORNWELL

A2.What is the meaning of the Greek word “planetes” from which the word planets is derived?

WANDERER

A3.The most northerly bridge crossing the
river Wear in Durham City was originally named the Millennium Bridge but was
given what name in 2002 reflecting the fact that there was formerly a toll
crossing there?

PENNY FERRY Bridge

A4.Designed by Santiago Calatrava,
the Bodegas Ysios in the province of Alava, Spain, is
an iconic modern building producing which product?

WINE
(Rioja)

ROUND 2

A5.The Pilgrim Fathers at Plymouth
accumulated large debts in the early years of the colony, but were saved by
exporting which commodity to Europe in 1627-28?

BEAVER SKINS

A6.In
which city in 1919 did a troop of British soldiers under the command of
temporary Brigadier General Edward Dyer fire on a peaceful rally of Indians,
killing 379?

AMRITSAR

A7.What was introduced to the West at the
1893 Chicago World Fair by Swami Vivekananda?

YOGA

A8.Which European language is known as a
‘language isolate’ – which means that it is unrelated to any other known living
language?

BASQUE or EUSKARA

ROUND 3

A9.What
portmanteau name is given to the electronic component, often used as an inrush
current limiter, whose electrical resistance changes with temperature?

THERMISTOR

A10.Guanzhou
is a Chinese city, the original name of which has cookery connections. What was
it formerly called?

CANTON

A11.Tangmere, the battle of Britain airfield, is now the site of
75 acres of greenhouses growing which Central and South American fruit?

PEPPERS

A12.Sean Penn received best
actor nominations for his portrayal of a jazz guitar player in "Sweet and
Lowdown" (1999). In the film his character is American but was actually
based on a famed Romani French guitarist who recorded during the 1930s and 40s.
Who was this great guitarist?

Django
REINHARDT

ROUND 4

A13.Which boxer has adopted the name Malik Abdul
Aziz since his conversion to Islam during a prison sentence in the 1990s?

Mike TYSON

A14.In their Nobel Prize winning paper on the
discovery of the Microwave Background after the Big Bang, Arno Penzias and
Robert Wilson wrote that they had to remove “white dielectric material” from
the horn of the antenna of their radio telescope. What was the nature of this
material?

PIGEON SHIT
(GUANO, BIRD POO etc.)

A15.The Isle of Anglesey gives its name to anglesite, a naturally occurring
sulphate of which metal?LEAD

A16.“Allotment
Annie” was a term in World War 2 for US war brides who committed what crime?

BIGAMY
(for $10 000 compensation for death of a husband)

ROUND 5

A17.The second men’s boat of Cambridge
University Boat Club is known as “Goldie”, but what is the name given to the
second women’s boat?

BLONDIE

A18. Derived from a French word, what name is given to a short musical
composition written solely to improve technique, usually for piano?

An
ETUDE

A19.Getting his first opportunities in the
Hungarian Revolution of 1956, and featured by Ken Russell in two Monitor films,
with what profession is David Hurn associated?

PHOTOGRAPHER

A20.Who is the only male New Zealander to have
held the world record time for the 800 metres?

Peter
SNELL

ROUND 6

A21.Appearing on the Eagles 1979 album One of These Nights, the instrumental
track Journey of the Sorcerer was
subsequently used as the theme tune for which BBC Radio and TV series?

HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE
TO THE GALAXY

A22.Crufts
Dog Show recognises seven categories. To which do sheepdogs and collies belong?